Review: Lenovo IdeaPad Y480

We’re finally receiving laptops featuring the third-generation “Ivy Bridge” processor. This CPU, still named under the Intel Core series conventions, isn’t just shrunken down using a new 22nm process, it’s also a 3-D chip that has stacked components, the first time this technology has been used in a mass-produced CPU.

Of course, if you don’t care about semiconductor advances, all of that nets out to the usual promises chipmakers offer every time a new CPU generation is launched: Faster performance and lower power consumption, the key selling points for any laptop.

Lenovo’s IdeaPad Y480 is an update to last year’s Y470. It remains built as a do-it-all traveling companion for consumers who want a laptop with a reasonably sophisticated configuration plus lots of bells and whistles, but who don’t want to spend a lot of money along the way.

The big sell with Ivy Bridge is performance, so let’s start there. Despite the Core i7-3610QM CPU, the Y480 doesn’t really have it. While I wasn’t aghast at the numbers, benchmarks were below those of numerous second-generation Core i5 laptops we’ve recently seen, and I had noticeable delays launching apps and even waiting for the Wi-Fi to connect. Boot-up was not noticeably faster, despite a “Boot Optimizer” system included, either. The results were curious enough that I asked Lenovo what was up. A company rep guessed that the 5400rpm hard drive was the bottleneck.

The other big sell with Ivy Bridge is battery life, and the Y480 flubs it there, too. I got just three hours of DVD playback and a mere two hours of running time using the Powermark benchmark. Neither is impressive and, with the intended audience for this laptop, this is likely a deal-breaker.

Lenovo is moving all of its laptops to island-style keyboards. Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired

The 14.1-inch LCD offers 1366×768-pixel resolution and is powered by an Nvidia GeForce GT 640M. Though it’s surprisingly dim, the screen is clear and crisp, and enhanced by clean and loud JBL speakers.

In addition to the third-gen Core, you get 8GB of RAM and a 750GB hard drive. A DVD burner is standard, but Blu-ray is available as an option. Port-wise, you get two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, an SD card reader, and HDMI, VGA, and Ethernet ports. Not much change since last year, but the fourth USB port is certainly welcome.

This year, Lenovo is moving all of its laptops — including ThinkPad — to the island-style keys it used here, and the jury’s still out on the design. Sure, it looks better (though the backlight leaks an awful lot from the sides of the keys when it’s turned on) than a traditional design, but it’s still just neither as comfortable for typing, nor as accurate.

Like its predecessor, the Y480 looks good and has a solid build, but the world this laptop finds itself in has changed, as performance has received a heavy focus in the industry. Sure, the price is right, but comparison shoppers will likely find they can do significantly better.